Switch Voltage Rating Selection Considering Cost-Oriented Redundancy and Modularity-based Trade-offs in Modular Multilevel Converter

Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) find increasing applications in medium to high-voltage systems. In such systems, reliability-oriented selection of power electronic switches becomes essential because higher modularity implies an increased number of components. The trade-off between the impact of higher modularity on converter reliability...

Thermal Cycling in Converter IGBT Modules with Different Cooling Systems in Pitch- and Active Stall-Controlled Tidal Turbines

This paper compares active and passive cooling systems in tidal turbine power electronic converters. The comparison is based on the lifetime of the IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) power modules, calculated from the accumulated fatigue due to thermal cycling. The lifetime analysis accounts for the influence of site conditions, namely...

Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

Thermal cycling is one of the major reasons for failure in power electronic converters. For submerged tidal turbine converters investigating this failure mode is critical in improving the reliability, and minimizing the cost of energy from tidal turbines. This paper considers a submerged tidal turbine converter which is passively cooled by...

A study on passive cooling in subsea power electronics

This paper proposes a simplified approach to model the thermal behavior of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in a subsea power electronic converter. The models are based on empirical relations for natural convection in water, and IGBT datasheet values. The proposed model can be used in the design of subsea converters and in the...

Compact Modeling of Physical Mechanisms Present in the Weak Breakdown Regime of Advanced Si and SiGe Bipolar Transistors

With the current increasing demand for faster and more reliable communication and computing electronic devices such as faster wireless communication networks, circuit designers are forced to carry out device optimization in order to achieve the maximum possible performance. To enable full circuit optimization, designers depend on compact models...

High-frequency noise modeling of Si(Ge) bipolar transistors

The design and the optimization of electronic systems often requires a detailed knowledge of the inherent noise generated within semiconductor active devices, constituting the core of such systems. Examples of applications in which noise is a key issue include receiver front-ends in radiofrequency (RF) and optoelectronic transmission systems,...

Device Realization, Characterization and Modeling for Linear RF Applications

This thesis work addresses semiconductor device technology, characterization and modeling solutions that support the development of future generations of mobile phones, which are able to handle various wireless services in flexible manner. Today’s plurality of high data-rate communication signals requires high linearity and efficiency of the...

Improved RF Devices for Future Adaptive Wireless Systems Using Two-Sided Contacting and A1N Cooling

This paper reviews special RF/microwave silicon device implementations in a process that allows two-sided contacting of the devices: the back-wafer contacted silicon-on-glass (SOG) substrate-transfer technology (STT) developed at DIMES. In this technology, metal transmission lines can be placed on the low-loss glass substrate, while the...

Characterization and AlN cooling of thermally isolated bipolar transistors

Nowadays, electrothermal effects (ET) are posing fundamental issues in nearly all branches of micro- and nano-electronics. Due to either a high power dissipation level or to the aggressive electrical isolation schemes adopted to increase the speed, both high and low power devices are affected by ET effects that limit their reliability and cause...

A Scalable Mextram Model for Advanced Bipolar Circuit Design

In this thesis, a referenced based scaling approach and its parameter extraction for the bipolar transistor model Mextram is proposed. It is mainly based on the physical properties of the Mextram parameters, which scale with the junction temperature and geometry of the bipolar transistor. The scalable electrical parameter in the scaling rules is...

Bipolar Transistors with Self-Aligned Emitter-Base Metallization and Back-Wafer-Aligned Collector Contacts

CMOS bandgap references and temperature sensors and their applications

Two main parts have been presented in this thesis: device characterization and circuit. In integrated bandgap references and temperature sensors, the IC(VBE, characteristics of bipolar transistors are used to generate the basic signals with high accuracy. To investigate the possibilities to fabricate high-precision bandgap references and...

Electrothermal Behavior of High-Frequency Silicon-On-Glass Transistors

In this thesis, research is focused on the investigation of electrothermal effects in high-speed silicon transistors. At high current levels the power dissipation in these devices can lead to heating of both the device itself and the adjacent devices. In advanced transistors these effects are becoming so pronounced that they are threatening to...

The effect of mechanical stress on bipolar transistor characteristics

Bipolar transistors for use in bandgap references and temperature transducers